Movies: They're Pretty Good!

Wes Anderson

Travis Dudding / Doug Alcantara Episode 31

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Have you ever found yourself completely immersed in the whimsical world of a Wes Anderson film? We certainly have, and today we're thrilled to be joined by none other than my friend Doug Alcantara. As we journey through the vibrant landscapes of Anderson's filmography, from Bottle Rocket to Grand Budapest Hotel, we'll unearth the unique flair that sets his work apart. From his singular cinematography to his playful humor and the poignant emotional impact of his narratives, Anderson's style has left an indelible mark on us that we're excited to share with you.

We'll be zeroing in on some of our all-time favorite Anderson films, including the heartwarming Moonrise Kingdom, which beautifully captures the innocence and recklessness of childhood. You'll get to revisit Sam and Suzy's iconic beach dance, a scene that speaks volumes while rarely uttering a single word. It's these understated yet impactful moments that exemplify Anderson's craft, and we're eager to share our thoughts on these and the more subtle themes of tribalism and authority absence. For those with an appreciation for stop-motion animation, we'll also delve into the aesthetic appeal of "Isle of Dogs" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox."

But our journey doesn't end with reminiscing about the past; we're also looking to the future as we tackle Anderson's more recent projects, "The French Dispatch" and "Asteroid City." We believe these are must-watch movies that will further solidify his legacy. Whether you're a die-hard Wes Anderson fan or a curious onlooker intrigued by his style, this episode is sure to leave you with a newfound appreciation for his work. So sit back, relax, and let's celebrate the magical world of Wes Anderson together.

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Travis:

Hello and welcome to another episode of Movies, Colon, They're pretty good. I'm your host, Travis Dudding, and today we have a special guest. We got my friend, Doug Alcantara. Doug, would you say? Hi.

Doug:

Hello, thank you for having me. I'm truly so excited to do this and, like a true good friend, I have not listened to one minute of your podcast before.

Travis:

As expected.

Doug:

All new to me very excited I'm as fresh as can be.

Travis:

Well, you know how you listen to all those professional podcasts. This is nothing like that. It has no merit, value or comedy. Good, very good.

Doug:

Then I could just be myself then?

Travis:

Yep, exactly. So today we're talking about Wes Anderson. Way back a few years ago probably a lot longer ago than I'm thinking we marathoned most of Wes Anderson's movies. That was a good time, I think the only one that's right.

Doug:

we did it from Bottle Rocket all the way to Budapest. I know Budapest. Yeah, that's right. Yep, yep.

Travis:

Yeah, that was great. I think the only one, for whatever reason Fantastic Mr Fox would not play, is that we didn't watch that one.

Doug:

I have to admit I was a little relieved because that movie creeped me out. Yeah, the most unaccounted.

Travis:

Do people complain about that? I don't know. I'm sure there are people that do. It's one that I'm surprised has as much fondness as it does, but people really love that one and yeah, I mean, I love it too. We even watched it in my media aesthetics class. I forget what the subject was, but it was an example. When we watched the whole thing, I was like, oh, I don't have to pay attention. I've seen this a billion times.

Doug:

Oh well, great, that's awesome.

Travis:

All right. So yeah, we're gonna go through each of the movies, talk a little bit about them, but we'll talk a lot about Moonrise Kingdom because that's your favorite, right.

Doug:

Absolutely yes. I just rewatched it last night with family and it holds up to the very high bar of a memory I had for it. Yeah, that's great.

Travis:

Yeah, I did a rewatch of it last night too, and was super glad I did, because, for whatever reason this month not all of Wes Anderson's movies are streaming. Usually you can find most of them, but right now you can't and all of my criterions are in a box in the garage. So I'm transitioning from state to state. So, but, yeah, I had the digital copy on my iTunes so I watched it on there and, yeah, I love that movie. That's so good. So, yeah, starting out, we got Bottle Rocket. This is with Owen and Luke Wilson and the third, less popular Wilson I already forgot his first name Russell Wilson, quarterback for the Denver Broncos, that's right, that's right.

Travis:

Another boomer playing brothers in the movie, and I think Owen Wilson's nose helps that.

Doug:

I forgot they weren't playing brothers.

Travis:

Yeah, but they play like a group. It's a group of like idiots, basically, that try to rob. They try to get in with this like heist group run by James Kahn and they rob a bookstore and then they hide out in the hotel for a while and nothing goes their way the whole time. But it's hilarious. It's, I'm pretty sure, a lot of inspiration for things like Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre.

Doug:

It's very similar humor style like I don't know, but I completely agree. I remember because I had not seen for the listeners, I had not seen any Wes Anderson films before Bottle Rocket. It was your idea to be like let me introduce you to the world of Wes Anderson and we'll do the entire thing. We'll do everything from the beginning and I remember Bottle Rocket not being what I pictured, because when I think of Wes Anderson at the time, like it was like Grand Budapest Hotel and that imagery was everywhere and that was like what you think of when you think of Wes Anderson, and that this felt like an indie movie, like you're saying, like Napoleon Dynamite.

Travis:

Was it technically indie? Yeah, cause this was there. They had made a short in college of Bottle Rocket and it got picked up in some festivals and stuff like that and they got the budget to make it into a full feature and cause they just went to. The three of them went to college together I forget which university, but it was in Texas. But yeah, that's basically what it was. They were friends, they made this movie together. It was Owen and Wes were the screenwriters, yeah, and then they were writing partners for not the first half, but most of the early stuff.

Doug:

Got it. Okay, yeah, I loved it. I mean a blanket statement. I liked all of the movies, but Bottle Rocket was a very interesting because I got to, as we like, watch more. I got to kind of see him become like. When I think of Wes Anderson, I think of the cinematography. So that's what I was like looking for from the beginning. And here's where I need to make a disclaimer. I have no idea what I'm talking about. I hope this is good for the listeners of your.

Doug:

I have to. I should have said from the beginning top level. I'm not really like a movie watching person. I enjoy great movies. When someone's like let's go see this, you have to watch this, whatever. My favorite movie of all time is In Glorious Bastards, which we watched together for the first time, and then Moonrise Kingdom is probably right there. I was disheartened to find that it doesn't have that and I'm very distracted, but I was disheartened to find that it did not have the IMDb rating that I would give it.

Travis:

Dude. Imdb ratings are all over the place. You got like a few that belong in the top 250, in my opinion, but you'll find that most of the really good movies are at like the sevens on IMDb. I feel like Letterboxed. The app is a little more accurate, but still you got people or a little too pretentious on there, so you got like Sorry go ahead.

Travis:

No, you got it's like IMDb is all like fanboys and they'll like you know, oh, like Endgame should be the like a 10 out of 10. Yeah, yeah, okay, all eight billion people on the planet should have voted it 10 out of 10. So, and then also like, there's a bunch of like Bollywood movies in the top 250 and a lot of them are really good, but you could tell that there's a strong Bollywood fan base that are voting for movies on IMDb. And then you got the people on Letterbox that are like oh, this the hardest movie you've ever watched about the Holocaust from a Russian perspective, and it's the and that's the number one movie on Letterboxed. Oh, my God, it's good, but it's one of those like, oh man, I need a shower after that. I feel disgusting, I'm depressed, I need to.

Doug:

Oh, my God. Okay, good to know, because I was gonna ask. I've seen people post like you know, here's my Letterboxed right Like. As I understand it, it's like what is it? Is it you? Anyone can go on there and like submit reviews.

Travis:

Yeah, it's kind of like social media for movie freaks like me and you go in, you can log what movies you've seen, you can rate them, like them, add your four favorites and stuff like that.

Doug:

Okay, got it. Okay. Okay, you have your top eight of movies.

Travis:

Yeah, pretty much.

Doug:

One of them gets really hurt and sad and posts ambiguously about that. They've fallen out of your top eight. Yep Changes their song on their movie profile. This is a deep cut for anyone under the age of maybe 30. Yeah, perfect. I'm immediately alienating people.

Travis:

Well, according to my demographics on Instagram, like we're good, okay, good, we're on the younger end.

Doug:

Oh, great, well, hopefully I'm not alienating people above as well, yeah.

Travis:

This is like aim, this is like mailing a friend. Yeah, this is like pen pals.

Doug:

You'd give the letter to the man in the horse drawn wagon. Oh great, now I'm going too far in on the other way. Anyway, I'm not so just yeah, so I'm not. I've not seen many great movies. I haven't seen many movies, but the ones that I've seen, largely at your suggestions, I've loved every single one. I remember there was a, there was a moment. Is this good for structure where I just talk randomly?

Travis:

No, this is actually this I. This is what I think makes a podcast great, and I think it's what's missing from my podcast is just having someone else to tangent with? Ok, good, because Tyler's been the only guest and he's not a good tangenter. Ok, he's very on topic.

Doug:

Let me fill your, let me fill your tangent quota for the next 100 episodes. We were. It was when we, you and I, took a road trip across the country from Maryland to San Diego yeah, technically to Mecula, california, and we were in El Paso and we watched. Was it El Paso? We watched the Phantom Thread.

Travis:

That? Oh, where were we? Oh, Phantom Thread was in Phoenix.

Doug:

OK, we were yes, yes, ok, ok, because we watched a game night. Yeah, that's right.

Travis:

Two very different, the opposite of the spectrum. Yeah, oh, you know, it's great after. Yeah, game night. Phantom Thread.

Doug:

Man that Jesse Plemmons is a great actor. What's this other one, yeah, and we watched, yeah, ok, so in we were in Arizona and we saw the Phantom Thread, yeah, and that was maybe the most like Award worthy film maybe I've ever seen. Yeah, perhaps. And I remember walking out of that movie being like, ok, yeah, I don't, I don't really know what to make of it. Besides, I'm, I'm very impressed and I don't know how to like say why.

Travis:

Yeah and that, and that's literally like how I felt after there will be blood the first time. Because I had seen it with my dad at the theater and we were both to like, hmm, his word, sir. And then I just kept thinking about it, thinking about it, thinking about it, and then bought it. When it came out on DVD this was pre-blue, right.

Doug:

That's right, and we watched it, yep, at your parents' house, and I remember maybe the first thing I said afterwards was there. There, finally, was blood.

Travis:

Yeah, as a promise. It took two and a half hours at least.

Doug:

At that the very least. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Another great one Daniel Day-Lewis. This is is incredible and yeah, I don't know like what necessarily makes a great performance in a movie, but I know that he's doing it.

Travis:

Yeah, yeah, because I feel like there's definitely people that get Oscars for most acting rather than best acting, and but Daniel Day-Lewis, he's a good one, he's really good yeah.

Doug:

Can I, can I get most distracting tangents?

Travis:

Yeah.

Doug:

Oh my gosh. Ok, so that's a good recap on me, yeah, yeah, and my, my attachment to movies and films and, yeah, cinema experiences.

Travis:

No, I think that and I think that covers what? Because I don't want to go too deep on Bottle Rocket, because I'll probably give that one its own episode someday, but, ok, right, yeah, well, it's, it's so good, it's, it's so different, because oh yeah, I think that I was going to mention this Owen Wilson was his writing partner for like the first few movies and that shift into the West Anderson we know now is more. I think it's Roman Coppola. This is current writing partner and that's and they're all good. It's just you could tell there's a vibe shift there.

Doug:

Got it. Yeah, I definitely noticed in the like opening credits of Moonrise Kingdom. Last night I saw a Coppola in there and I remember thinking you, you wouldn't have that last name if you weren't. Yeah, that can't be right, right, yeah.

Travis:

Who? There's someone who is a Coppola that changed their name. I forget if it's Nicholas Cage or something.

Doug:

Oh really, but he's like an actual yeah. Ok, got it.

Travis:

I think even Jason Schwartzman, and that's probably how, oh wow, yeah, oh Roman got involved. Maybe oh, meet my cousin. He's a screenwriter and related to the one of the most famous directors ever of all time.

Doug:

Yeah, is that a good enough pitch for you?

Travis:

Yep. Well, speaking of Jason Schwartzman, next up is Rushmore, which is the second one. Yeah, that was the second Wow, and I think that's what's really put, that's what really put him on the map. I think like a lot of like presence at the MTV movie awards, that's one of the special features on the criterion collection is all the like TV spots they did for MTV movies. But yeah, that one's great. That's.

Travis:

Jason Schwartzman, when he's still a teen, has one of the funniest lines ever. That I don't think I want to say because I'm going to butcher it, but I kind of have to, though, because I mean, hopefully you've seen the movie or we'll go see it and see the actual good delivery of it. But when Jason Schwartzman does a play and he has a crush on one of the teachers at the school she he goes out to dinner with her and his best friend 40 years, his senior Bill Murray, and she brings her boyfriend, luke Wilson, who just came from the hospital because he's a, he's a surgeon and he's like oh, nice of you to wear your nurse's outfit to my dinner and he said these are our scrubs. And he says oh, are they? And that's maybe the funniest line ever.

Doug:

It's the most clever, at least because it's such a, it's such a dig, without profanity or yes, yes, being like straight up, like mean, but it is like just so sarcastically, like I'm immediately writing you off your achievement, like you maybe just saved a life, or earlier this week had to, like tell a family bad news. Yeah, oh, are they?

Travis:

You only have like one of the hardest jobs to exist, but I'm going to downplay the shit out of you.

Doug:

That's fun, I forgot. Ok was Bill Murray in Bottle Rocket.

Travis:

No that. So that's the only one, up until this last one asteroid city that he wasn't in. So the first Wes Anderson one that he was in was Rushmore, and then that started this trend of, or tradition of, him being in every single movie, and it was just scheduling conflicts that kept him out of asteroid city, and that's so. Steve Carell's role was supposed to be Bill Murray.

Doug:

Yeah, oh, got it. And I don't think we've seen asteroid city yet. And yeah, watching doing our rewatch of Moonrise Kingdom last night, we're like, ok, we have to watch asteroid city. Oh yeah, good to know, because I'll be now knowing the, the casting change.

Travis:

Yes, yeah, ok. So yeah, now, now you got to watch it. Thinking about, because the first time I saw in a theater I laughed. I'm like wait, bill Murray wasn't in it. And then I read that later yeah, got it. And the score is great and a bunch of great like iconic lines to Jason Schwartzman, who's early bloomer for sure, because he's yeah, how old was he in Rushmore? I am not 100 percent sure. I know he was under 18. I feel like he was like 16, maybe 14.

Doug:

Yeah, but so funny, yeah he's. He still kind of does everything with like that boyish charm.

Travis:

Mm, hmm, yeah, and he's still. He's still out there. You know, putting in the work he was in the he voiced the villain in across the spider verse or beyond. What is it? The? Whatever? The second animated Spider-Man. That's not MCU, but is good yeah.

Doug:

Yeah, whatever that is. Yeah, I've been told it's great again. Yeah, not that Now I'm not a movie guy. Yeah. But also when people start talking to me about comics, I go cross-eyed, oh yeah. And people, people go. I know I'm sure that it's a work of art. People say that animation is like next level it's. They've put so much like sweat, blood and tears into this thing and I go really good for them.

Travis:

Yeah, yeah, that was, that was my take for the longest time. And then I would just needed something. I was with the kids and the second one was going to be playing in the theater here. I'm like you know what? I never saw the first one. Let's watch the first one and see if. And if it's good, we'll go see the second one. And then we saw, we did that and they were pretty good. But yeah, I'm the same way with comics. I know next to nothing. Most of my knowledge is all MCU based up to end game, and then now I'm like losing steam on that.

Doug:

Oh, yeah, big time yeah.

Travis:

I think everyone.

Doug:

America is the world. I have no idea what happened after end game. Yeah, we tried watching some of the like MCU stuff on like Disney Plus, and I don't like Loki was probably the last one we watched which I enjoyed. I know that there's a season two of that, Maybe we'll watch it.

Travis:

But we tried to watch Hawkeye and made it two and a half episodes in or like yeah, for me, like Loki was the best one of those, because I watched most of them up to a certain point and I still haven't even touched season two.

Doug:

Yeah.

Travis:

And, like Miss Marvel is, or the Marvels, miss Marvel's the show the Marvel's, the new one that's in the theater is going to be the first one I won't see in the theater since the first Guardians, and that was just because I had little kids in 2014.

Doug:

Wow, that's crazy. Yeah, Did you like Wanda vision? I did, I did. Yeah, yeah, that one was good. Yeah, maybe I can be on that one because I loved that. If when you you know, obviously I love movies, they're pretty good is going to tackle television streaming series, when you do that one. Yeah, I almost called this, I love films.

Travis:

That's a different sub podcast of another.

Doug:

That's a. That's a. Yeah, that's another sub podcast within a spin off of a podcast. Yeah.

Travis:

Oh, my goodness. So I think next is Royal Tenen bombs, and I think this is where he like. Really, this is where he cemented his style of the like very symmetrical, those pastel colors, big casts like lots of cameos, quick dialogue. I mean all that was like kind of creeping in. But this is where it's like. This is where he made his blueprint of. This is Wes Anderson style, hmm.

Doug:

Okay, yeah, speaking of like, I've been trying to like put my finger on like what is his style, but you're right Symmetry.

Travis:

His style is in this book that I found and like oh my God, I have to have this. And it's awesome yeah, but yeah, very just, I don't know, it's very aesthetic.

Doug:

I want that book to. I want like a. I want like a Of a Wes Anderson style landscape in my house somewhere. Yeah, people say, oh, are you a big Wes Anderson fan? And say yes, but don't ask me too much.

Travis:

Well, you probably, you probably know more about Wes Anderson than most of the people making the Wes Anderson TikToks did.

Doug:

Those were great. I really liked they were good. Some of them were really really like yeah, good. It was those. They're probably like film students or something.

Travis:

Yeah yeah, you could tell who was like real into it, like either real into film or knew what they're talking about. And then there's people that were missing, missing the point, I think.

Doug:

And then there were some that were just like scubity toilet, yeah, which is? I don't know that ever happened, but that's trying to make fun of a.

Travis:

May or may not exist yeah. Yeah, Royal Ten and bombs is great. A lot of weird Only dynamics which I think a lot of people can relate to. I do have a question, though Do you think that the sibling relationship is what started the step brother porn craze?

Doug:

Okay, Unfortunately, I'm more familiar with one of these things what is the I don't so Royal Ten and bombs I don't have, like I don't remember very well. So it's a sibling relationship in it and who gets in the? Dishwasher or whatever.

Travis:

Yeah, no, gwyneth Paltrow was the adopted sister and hit and her and Luke Wilson's character so her adopted brother are like kind of into each other, but it's like one of those forbidden love things. I don't know if like anything. I don't remember anything concrete happening, but yeah.

Doug:

Okay, you're maybe.

Travis:

Yeah.

Doug:

When did Royal Ten and bombs come out?

Travis:

That was like 2001,. I think.

Doug:

Okay, so we're in the shadow of 9, 11.

Travis:

Yes, Maybe that relationship is what that was the branch in the multiverse. Yeah, oh, my God.

Doug:

Oh my God, that is funny to think. I wonder what is like the? I hope it was a piece of media that inspired this whole genre of other media, and hopefully not because I remember when that first started becoming a thing, because I first saw jokes about it. Yeah, what?

Travis:

Yeah.

Doug:

It's disgusting. Yeah, as you know, I could possibly imagine someone being like searching for that, because here's where it came from. Probably someone, yeah, ruin in the head.

Travis:

Yeah, it's like looking for something. I search results. Yeah, yeah, oh, this doesn't exist. Once I've done right, do it yourself. And history was made. Not good history, no, no.

Doug:

Search history. Search history was cleared.

Travis:

Oh man. So yeah, that's a, that's Rose. What are you doing? Step tenant bomb, all right, so after that it's life aquatic.

Doug:

Yes, it's another. This is the first one I remember seeing marketing for when I was a teenager I was maybe 13 ish probably when I started seeing and I remember that's probably the first like Wes Anderson art that I had ever seen like movie posters up and billboards and then commercials and stuff. This was like, oh, that looks really interesting, but I didn't have any appreciation for the work leading up to it.

Travis:

Yeah, at that time I feel it's the same for me, not, not, I think about it. I know I heard about Royal Ten and bombs a lot, but that was just at school, so I was just other people that were a little ahead of me, art wise, I guess, art film wise, but yeah, that that's. That's probably the first one I remember seeing a lot of. That's Bill Murray's, the star of that one, a lot of good. This is when he starts dipping his toe into stop motion as well, because there's like some of the sea creatures or stop motion. That's right, got him the, I guess, got his foot in the door to do Fantastic. Mr.

Doug:

Fox, right, that's right, yep and Isle of Dogs, etc. Etc.

Travis:

Yeah, but yeah, he uses it a lot later on, even if it's not like a full movie. There'll be a random shots, like there's a little woodpecker or road runner that goes across the road and asteroid city that you could tell is like stop motion.

Doug:

Oh, that's cool, it's fun. Yeah, I'll look for it. And that's also played by Steve Carell, yes.

Travis:

Actually, the whole movie is all Steve Carell. It was COVID, so he just did every role. Oh my God, steve Carell as Michael Scott.

Doug:

Running across the street. Yes, can you give me a plot summary of the Life Aquatic, so Life?

Travis:

Aquatic. I can't remember it. So Bill Murray is Steve Zizou. That's the full title Life Aquatic, the adventures of Steve Zizou. Then no, I think it's Life Aquatic with Steve's?

Doug:

Yeah, I think so.

Travis:

And then he's the host of like a Jacques Cousteau type docuseries basically, and his partner got eaten by a shark way back and so he's out on like a revenge trip to go find the shark and kill it. And Owen Wilson is his estranged son that he didn't know about, I think and he's a pilot I think airline pilot and he goes along with the adventure. And then there's a journalist there kind of documenting everything. She's played by Kate Blanchett and, yeah, bunch of different people. Willem Dafoe is on the crew and he got, I believe, brazilian singer, so George or Sue, I don't know how to.

Doug:

That's the guy playing the guitar through.

Travis:

Yeah, he's the one with the guitar doing Bowie covers the whole time and so cool. It's one of the better soundtracks, I think.

Doug:

Yeah, that's so neat. Yeah, I remember I think it's maybe the opening crawl of that movie, where it's kind of like this cross section view of maybe the submarine or something, where they're just going like room to room. Yes, you're just like seeing. That's something he does, I think a lot, and he definitely did it in Moonrise Kingdom, oh yeah, where they're just showing you characters and they're just so inherently interesting just doing like writing a note or painting something or playing guitar. Yeah, they go. Wow, I can't wait to find out what that guy's deal is.

Travis:

Yeah, literally like they could be doing anything, and then he just can make it look so interesting. Yes, which is something I was talking about in my last episode about David Lynch. But, he goes like a completely different way but also makes it just feel very interesting. Yes, and it's the most mundane stuff and you're just like, oh man, he just want to keep watching and watching.

Doug:

Yeah, yeah, the beginning of each like. Sometimes, like when I'm watching a movie, like when a scene ends and something new begins, that's when I grab my phone and then I wait for like dialogue or something to happen. That like grabs my attention back. Yeah, but I don't find myself doing it. I definitely couldn't do that with Moonrise Kingdom, because every time a new scene starts they've set up a new campsite or someone is smoking a cigarette in an interesting way, or something you know like it just from the onset it grabs your attention. You miss nothing. It's like first flash of a scene. You're already like, oh, how did this happen? Yeah, so, and the colors are good for the neuron activation in my brain. Yep, just pretty colors on the screen. Like a kid watching YouTube for nine hours straight.

Travis:

Yep, it's great for the iPad kids.

Doug:

Wipe my nose, kick my feet up in the air. Yeah, Off loud tongue out oh man. Okay, yes, I'm remembering Life Aquatic more now. This is making me remember how much I loved all of these and would more than happily watch them all again.

Travis:

Yeah.

Doug:

Yeah, seven times.

Travis:

I just want to go in the garage and find all the, find them all. I could watch all of them because I only got to do a few. I rewatched Bottle Rocket, moonrise Kingdom, asteroid City, isle of Dogs and one other one I don't remember. Yeah, oh, probably Fantastic, mr Fox, because that's on like HBO or something.

Doug:

Sure Okay yeah.

Travis:

Yeah, but really want to rewatch these this one, this next one, darjeeling Limited, that's one I've probably seen the least, but that's like the.

Doug:

That's one that has a scene that affected me the most.

Travis:

Yeah, that's like one of the heaviest ones of all of them?

Doug:

Yes, that's just like. It's Adrian Brody. Who else is in, like the crew that's on the? All I can remember is Adrian Brody, very distinct, yeah.

Travis:

Adrian Brody, jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson and their brothers. Yeah, yes, okay yeah.

Doug:

That was a great adventure type thing, if I can remember correctly. I guess a lot of his movies have like a grand quest that someone is on, but I think that one was really, because this one, oh my God. The scene that I'm remembering specifically is when the kid drowns in the river.

Travis:

Yes, yeah, and it just happens you know, yeah, the way that it shot Right in the middle of all the whimsy yeah, a kid dies, a kid dies.

Doug:

And then it's just real heavy for a few minutes and they can save him.

Travis:

Yeah, they try. Yeah, adrian Brody tries to save him.

Doug:

Want to edit this? Yeah, because a phone call just stole the focus from my headphones and I reconnected back to my laptop and Spotify started playing Foo Fighters. We wanted to give you some tone for the dead kid in the river story, that's right, it was learning to walk again, which is impossible, yeah, okay, let me put on two night of stirrer so it doesn't happen again. I'm sorry, all right.

Doug:

Now you're good, yes, so yeah, that scene in that movie is so poignant to me. I remember it being like we're fun, we're on this like romp adventure and, oh my God, a kid dies. Yeah, yeah.

Travis:

Like real heavy out of nowhere and it's done so well too. It doesn't feel like it still doesn't. It doesn't feel out of place, even though tonally it is, but it fits with the movie and it's crazy, oh yeah. Yeah.

Doug:

And it's. They do the funeral as well. After that it's like kind of ceremonial and they, yeah, yeah, that was heavy.

Travis:

Yeah, and they're like welcomed into the community for a little bit and everything, and then they, you know, eventually they move on with their quest and I think it's like a bonding thing after their dad died, if I remember right.

Doug:

Yeah, is that what was the?

Travis:

Like what the whole purpose of their trip? Yeah, the inciting incident.

Doug:

Yep, no Is a term, I think is?

Travis:

Yeah, it is, but do I know enough to know if it's used correctly?

Doug:

Oh, my God.

Travis:

Yeah, okay, so after that I really should have wrote these down. I used to have it like memorized Think after that is Moonrise Kingdom next. No, fantastic Mr Fox is next.

Doug:

Oh, interesting, so that happened before Moonrise Kingdom. I thought that all of the kind of stop motion stuff happened in one block. Yeah, oh, interesting. Okay, yeah, that's the one I can't.

Travis:

Yeah, that's the one you haven't seen and luckily I don't have to talk about it in this episode because I did a full episode on it. Oh great.

Doug:

You can go there. I love that episode.

Travis:

But yeah, lots of cameos in that, all voice. Obviously Stop motion Veryit's giving autumn, so if you're into that, then it's giving thanks. Great small movie to watch. It's giving thanks.

Doug:

That's great.

Travis:

All right. Next is Moonrise Kingdom. Okay, here we go. Yes, all right. So this one we'll talk a little bit more on. Great, great movie. It's two kids run away together, one Boy Scout type. It's a khaki scout is what they are in the movie, taking place in like the 60s, I believe. I forget if they say the exact year.

Doug:

It is, I believe September 2nd through 5th 1965. You're right, because at the beginning, the narrator is saying that this place is famous for the storm that will occur in three days. That's right.

Travis:

Yeah, I'm glad you were paying closer attention.

Doug:

Oh, I so was, because I knew I was watching it more academically. I wasn't writing down notes, but I was taking mental notes and watching the movie in a way that I don't normally watch them.

Travis:

Yeah, I usually do, but just for whatever reason, this last rewatch I was just kind of doing a bunch of other stuff so I missed the year, but there's so much stuff that's just ingrained in me from this movie, like visually, those visuals, those jokes, those man, this is one of the probably visually my favorite one, and like from the costumes and everything to like those. I've seen people, a lot of couples, dressing as the two kids.

Doug:

Oh yeah, Halloween.

Travis:

Yeah, definitely seen that a bunch.

Doug:

For sure. Yeah, so there's a moment in while Edward Norton is walking through the khaki scout camp like taking inventory and giving kids demerits for not having like their uniform right and all that stuff, and as he's walking through he sees a kid like holding a bunch of wood. He's like what are you doing so building a tree house, sir, where? And it's like up this crazy tree, that's like completely like wacky, not structurally sound in any way, but the way that it like the camera like backs out and shows you this thing immediately sets the tone for how grounded and like physical reality we are and it immediately lets you know like not totally, yeah.

Travis:

Yeah.

Doug:

The point is I'm trying to show you like funny, like it. I think it's like kids imagination, you know, like is it is a big theme in this, so it's. I think some of the things are like how kids imagine what it was like to be like a khaki scout. Like in your memory, a tree house was all the way up on top of this tree that had no other branches, Just one big trunk up into the sky. Yeah, but I thought that would not like set the tone for like some of the other things that happened that are like oh, that's wacky, oh yeah, and if it just happened on their own would be like what?

Travis:

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, I really agree with you right there. Yeah, like when he gets hit, struck by lightning and stuff, and is fine, that's right. Yeah, and the end of the, when the church tower falls over and stuff, that's right.

Doug:

Yeah, now that I'm thinking about it, why did he need to get struck it? Like it's just a thing that that just happened. Yeah, it had no like significance beyond that moment, like it was just a funny wacky thing. That's like in his triumph of come and get me, you bastards, or whatever he says, what if he gets? What if the nickels that he's carrying attract a bolt of lightning? Yeah, there's a very funny moment where he like gets up from that. He's just all like covered in like soot and ash, like from head to toe, and he gets up and blows off his glasses and they're perfectly clean.

Travis:

Yeah, so he can like see through it.

Doug:

Those types of details are so fun and very funny.

Travis:

Yeah, all right, I do have a question which tree house do you think is more structurally sound, the one in Moonrise Kingdom or the one that we ended up at in the woods? And mirror makes up, oh my.

Doug:

God, the one in the movie the make believe one. Yes, yeah, and because if any of the members in our crew had tried to actively knock down the tree house, we wouldn't be recording the podcast today. Yes, there was also threat of arson in.

Travis:

Devil Winds. Yes, this is summer, mind you, in San in Fire Prone San Diego, California, that's right. Someone is lighting fuses in the dry ass. Oh my God, below us.

Doug:

Yeah, oh yeah, that we like trekked into this. It was what it this. This adventure began at like 11pm, if I remember correctly. Oh yeah, and we like trek into this canyon with a friend, like we had our like regular, like group of friends, and then one of them brought a friend, of a friend, yes, who was, in all senses of the word, a wild card. Yes, and he was, and we were, what? 19?.

Travis:

Yeah, 18, 19.

Doug:

18, 19. Yeah, and the thought that his backpack like we were hearing his backpack, like clink, and he was like walking down into the forest and we're like, do you have? Do you have like beer in your backpack? And he was like, yeah, of course I do, I'm 18. It was like a big eye-opening moment to me, but that was the least dangerous thing in his backpack. Oh, yeah, by far. Yes, by a wide margin.

Travis:

I would not be surprised to like later find out he had a gun in there or something.

Doug:

Oh, dude for sure, if we can contact the correctional facility, he's most certainly in and asked to speak with him. I think we could get some more answers, but if I remember correctly it was also like his. He knew where the treehouse was. This was like his idea, right Like I think they built it.

Travis:

Oh, no, or something.

Doug:

Yeah.

Travis:

Which was even scarier.

Doug:

Oh my God.

Travis:

And treehouse is so generous of a like, sorry, like, it was more like plywood in a treehouse, yes, Like they might have built it by just tossing wood up until it stayed and not secured it at all. That's right.

Doug:

They might have gone into the ravine just to throw wood around and accidentally made it something that resembled a treehouse. Oh shit.

Travis:

Oh my.

Doug:

God, yeah, I would well. There's a scene in Moonrise Kingdom where there's like nine khaki scouts in that treehouse oh yeah.

Travis:

And then it's also. I feel like it's bigger on the inside than when you look at it from the outside, which I also love.

Doug:

Yes, and that's just perfect for the whole thing. Like the whole fact that it's like already an impossible thing, you can totally like indulge, the bigger on the inside than outside thing. It reminded me of the sandlot. There's that scene in the sandlot where they're making s'mores, s'more, what you know, whatever.

Travis:

It reminded me of that. I also love how like they all band together to help out the kids, sam and the yes.

Doug:

I'm Blinken and Susie Susie says Susie Sharp, susie Sharp and Sam Shikusky.

Travis:

Yeah, they remember Shikusky.

Doug:

Yeah, yeah, they, yeah, but it's like after the little asshole gets stabbed and they all like the one, like jerk, who's in charge, gets hurt and can't like be the voice for the group anymore and they all realize, uh, yeah, are we the bad guys? Yeah, which is funny because I've mentioned my favorite movie is Inglourious Basterds. Why do all these kids look like little like Nazi soldiers, you know, like they kind of do look like I think it's uh like they're sort of like alluding to that right, like it's sort of like they look like child soldiers, yeah, like European child soldiers is like oh yeah, and the way they show up on the motorbike, yeah, and and all of that stuff. That felt like Inglourious Basterds. There's a moment in the movie where they were Sam and Susie have run away and the khaki scouts find them the first time, yeah, and that felt like the scene where you meet the bear Jew. Yeah, inglourious Basterds. Yeah, yeah, it felt a lot like that, like everyone kind of spaced out, everyone's got their own thing they're going to say, and and all that stuff was really cool. But yeah, but it was.

Doug:

It was in that scene where the big bad kid, the leader of the mean khaki scouts, get stabbed by lefty scissors Yep, which is again just a fun detail. Yeah and yeah and that. And then later on the boys realize, oh, that was, we're not being good. I wanted, I want to do good, but I was. Later on in the movie They've Sam runs into the mean kid while he's in the infirmary At the other camp. Yeah, yeah, and I couldn't remember what happened. I guess I was surprised to realize on my second rewatch that the kid like stays bad, like he actually doesn't learn a lesson, like some. There was no like redemption arc for him. Like he stayed an asshole, he was holding the binoculars and everything and like rightfully gets punched in his stab wound a bunch of times. Yeah, yeah, like there's.

Doug:

There's some things in Wes Anderson movies that I like that's one of them is like sometimes people just like don't learn a lesson, yeah, and like there's. There's a moment when Bill Murray and his wife they're in their separate beds and they're in the house and they're talking. They're just like it's the driest conversation, Like they're falling asleep and they're talking about work, right, the court cases that they're individually working on and stuff. Yeah, and he has this. You know, he's just got two black eyes and and he's telling her you know, I'm sorry, this and that, blah, blah, blah. And she's like you don't have to be sorry or it's not your fault or something, and he says I wish he says something to affect, if I wish the roof would fly off this house and I get sucked up into space. Yeah, and he's just like a forever sad sack and then you'll be happier without me yeah, yes, that's right, yeah, and everyone has had that thought of like

Doug:

oh, it's very relatable and you can tell there's because the camera is like directly over them, like you're, you're seeing them like essentially like perpendicular. And there's just that moment he's just laying on the pillow with his two black eyes staring up at the ceiling, like you could see, like I just wish I would die, yeah, and, and he doesn't like get fulfillment at the end of the movie, like you. Just he's still like this sad, depressed drunk. You know I'm going out back to chop down a tree.

Travis:

Yeah, and his wife is probably still cheating on him, yeah, so, murray, or with a With a, with diehard, yeah, diehard. Bruce.

Doug:

Willis.

Travis:

Oh, my gosh Brain is not recovered from my sleep last night.

Doug:

Oh, did you not sleep well? Did you know? I'm at the ceiling hoping it would suck you out into the stars.

Travis:

No, like my allergies have been bugging with the weather change, so I took a drowsy allergy pill and Well, you sound great.

Doug:

Thanks, yeah, I think that's that's. One thing is, like some things don't need to be tied up, like people, like viewers, like sort of expect that every storyline gets tied up. Everyone has a happy ending. Yeah, and there's a sort of brutalness to some of the characters he writes where, no, they just stay unhappy or angry or hurt or something like that. Yeah, they don't need. Some characters don't deserve a happy ending, even though you want it to happen. That's not what that wasn't in. That's. This isn't their story. Maybe there's another movie that's about Bill Murray and his wife finding happiness on this island. Yeah, but it's not this one. This is not their story.

Doug:

I like that, yeah, yeah, dude, this movie is just so good. It makes me remember like what it was like to be, because I think they're what like 12 or 13 in the movie. Yeah, I think so. They might not even like be teenagers yet. Yeah, but everyone has that memory of like what it's like to have like your first crush, mm, hmm, and it's, it's weird, like it's.

Doug:

You don't understand anything about relationships. You just know that like this person I'm attracted to I don't know why and you're kind of like feeling that for the first time, like as a kid. Yeah, this movie captures that feeling perfectly. Yeah, they're like awkward. They come from like different backgrounds, they don't really know how to like communicate with each other, but they there's something like deeper there. I just thought it was. There's the moment on the beach where they like the beach that ends up being called Moonrise Kingdom, the title inlet, yeah, and they like essentially like experience, like falling in love, but it's too, you know, it couldn't be right, because they're 12, you know like it's this whole thing where the it's very aware of like I love you and I love you, but the viewer knows, no, you don't.

Doug:

You have a. You have a deep crush. You have no experience to tell you like whether this is like true or not. But that's the thing. It's like reckless. The whole thing of like running away from home and going on this whole adventure, it's all reckless. It's just like indulgent childhood, which is so cool to me. The movie just captures that perfectly. It makes me remember like going on little adventures and stuff, yeah, and it just nails that perfectly. No other movie, I think, like does that for me.

Travis:

Yeah, and this is one of the most well done versions of that, because there's a lot of things that try that Like I know, like using kids is somehow like so relatable and I don't know why it's like. Yeah, like I don't know, maybe because we divert so much as adults into so many different possibilities of a life, but even though I'm not saying every childhood is the same, but I don't know, I think those feelings are so similar no matter what the situation.

Doug:

And yeah, there's something universal.

Travis:

There's something that works about movies like and shows like look how successful stranger things is, like there's a reason that that's so successful. Et, the Goonies, all that stuff you know those stand by me. It just works. I think this is, if not the best, than one of the best versions of that, because, yeah, it's captures those feelings of falling in love. It captures those feeling out of place, whether and then also just like two different types of feeling out of place. You got Sam, who's an orphan, and Susie, who comes from a loving family, but like, well, you know she comes from a family, but they could be a little more supportive of stuff and things like that. But and Sam even points out the like I love you, but you don't know what you're talking about.

Travis:

You know because she says that she wishes that she was an orphan, you know.

Doug:

He delivers that so well, Like for a 12 year old actor to say I love you, but you have no idea what you're talking about.

Travis:

And I love that she doesn't argue with them, because she kind of like realizes, like okay, you're right, you know? I don't know what I'm talking about. She just says I love you too, you know, that's right. Yeah, it's beautiful. I love that scene.

Doug:

I love that scene you were mentioning.

Travis:

No, go ahead, go ahead oh yeah, I love the scene with them on the beach dancing to that song, the Francois Hardy song. It's so good.

Doug:

Yeah, his moves, but their moves are so different. Yeah, because she's just sort of doing like a more, just like swaying, and he's just in there pumping his arms and all that stuff. I just love that. And then eventually, like they dance together and they share a kiss and all that stuff. But it's just like them being on opposite sides of the frame doing like their separate things and then coming together Like it's just so well done, yeah, like it tells us there's no, there's almost there's no dialogue until they like are touching each other.

Doug:

Yeah, and then it's then, but like there's so much like done by just two characters just dancing apart from each other. It is so good, yeah, yeah. So when you were mentioning other movies that are like a story of kids on a rom, you know yeah, I almost said Lord of the Flies I realized actually there's there's moments in Moonrise Kingdom that are like Lord of the Flies, yeah, and it's just kids like embracing tribalism, essentially Like what happens when there's no government, yeah, what happens when there's no parents to tell kids what to do, and there's just like a like unabashed evilness. That like happens sometimes. And of course, moonrise Kingdom is way lighter, yeah.

Travis:

Lord of the Flies.

Doug:

No one, it is, you know, pushed off a cliff and killed or whatever you know. But yeah, I didn't. I actually didn't think about that parallel until now, and I wonder how much he was inspired or thought about Lord of the Flies when he was doing this movie. Yeah, or if he, or or if at all, yeah I wonder.

Travis:

Yeah, I have to look into that because there are a lot of parallels and it is because it is. It's those kids on their own, because they ran away, and then the one authority sent all these other kids to go get them, with no supervision, though that's right.

Doug:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I should watch Lord of the Flies again. No, I won't. That movie makes me sick.

Travis:

I I think I've only seen part of one version of it and literally all I remember is the the foam boulder bouncing back up off of Piggy, who they're murdering.

Doug:

The oh my God, yeah, yeah. That scene specifically is the one that I actually I read the book first before I saw the movie, and that's the only time a book has made me feel like, actually like queasy. Yeah, yeah, that's the way that it's described in the book. Oh, there's no, there's no, like you know, bad movie magic pulling you out of the moment you know, and it is just like vicious and gross.

Doug:

Oh yeah, I bet. Yeah yeah, it made me ill. Anyway, boon Rice Kingdom plays on the same themes, but without the like vulgarity. Yeah yeah, and dude, how cool of a of a khaki scout leader is Edward Norton.

Travis:

Oh, I love him and I think I I can relate to him now as, just like the, I'm just trying my best, you know yeah.

Doug:

Just do it. Yeah, yeah, you, when you realize that there's like an awareness of him, like when they're the, a message is sent to the other camp of Falcon Scouts or whatever, like the older kids, and the scout master, harvey Kytel, is like can you believe now he's lost his whole troop? Yeah, because just there's a moment in the movie where they're they're like in the church or whatever, and there was like the play going on of Noah's Ark and this happens one year earlier they had a different scout master that wasn't Edward Norton. So you're, you know, like this is his first time doing this. Yeah, and he makes a big point like what do the kids ask him? What do you do for a job? And he's like I'm a math teacher, like you know whatever. And they like razz him a little bit about that, like do you need a PhD to you know whatever? He's like actually I'm changing my answer. I'm his khaki scout troop leader first, and then I'm a math teacher on the side.

Doug:

His character is so funny, like he's not like a, he's not an idiot. No, he, you do get the feeling he is trying his best. Yeah, but he has all these like high intentions and he was probably a khaki scout. When he was a kid he was like trying to be the khaki scout leader. He remembers his khaki scout leader being but has no experience, so he makes all sorts of mistakes, like oh, a kid got away. All of you go find him. Yeah, yeah, he's, he's really great, he. Um, what is the? There's another he's in a few of these movies, but what's another one that he's in where he has a really prominent character?

Travis:

in a Wes.

Doug:

Anderson movie. I'm trying to think, cause I realized I had conflated a couple of them, cause he's the leader of the of like the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of, like military police in Gran Budapest.

Travis:

There's a fairly major in that he's. He's in Asteroid City, but more Behind the scenes, because it's the way that Asteroid City is set up. This isn't a spoiler, is that it's a play, but you're seeing it like, but it's shown as a movie and then you'll go back in black and white will be like the behind the scenes of the play and he's the playwright basically Got it.

Doug:

Ok, it must be Gran Budapest then, because I'm just conflating the two times where he's like in a uniform.

Travis:

Yeah.

Doug:

Yeah, yeah, ok, ok, yeah yeah. Gran Budapest Hotel, was that the one with? I'm hopefully not getting them confused? Tilda Swinton plays like an elderly woman. Yes, and yes, the current, the current Flash Gordon is in there, as like the bellhop Mm. Hmm, I think so. I think that's. I think that's right, that that's. That's probably my next one to watch.

Travis:

Yeah, yeah.

Doug:

Yeah, to rewash flash from Spider-Man.

Travis:

He's the, the lobby boy, yeah.

Doug:

Not Flash Gordon. Flash Gordon is something different, but the flash Thompson.

Travis:

I think it's Flash Thompson, flash Thompson, I think. I don't know Flash. They say his name so infrequently, but he is in there Just prominently.

Doug:

Yeah.

Travis:

Yeah, but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Doug:

Tony Ravioli, revolio, I forget, Tony I, if it's not Tony Ravioli, I don't care to know what it is in reality. I'm not even going to look it up, don't care to.

Travis:

And then Ray Fiennes. Voldemort is the the main guy.

Doug:

The main main, what guy?

Travis:

like the main hotel concierge.

Doug:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I was like who was? Who was Voldemort in Moonrise Kingdom? No, no in Budapest. Yeah, ok, ok, ok, yeah, ok, yeah, yes, yeah, yeah, I'm curious to know how do you rank Moonrise Kingdom in your all time favorite movies and then within Wes Anderson movies.

Travis:

I Upon, like when I do rewatches, and because it's very hard to not fall to recency bias with asteroid city, because I do really like that one. He's like doing all his tricks to 100 percent on that one but, like I said, it's recent so it's like it has that. You know there's a there's a filter over it, so I can't share. That's my favorite right now. Moonrise Kingdom has always been neck and neck with Grand Budapest for me, but I think Moonrise is a little more special, little more relatable, a little more accessible. I think. I think it just makes me happier because while Grand Budapest is really good, it does have a very bittersweet ending and is very sad at the end and it's like you said, like it doesn't always have to be a happy ending. And that's another really good example of that, because you know he just dies at the end and and it's very and it's said very like in the end he died and that's it, you know.

Doug:

that's it Like yeah. That did happen, but it's not the interesting part of the story that I wanted to tell you.

Travis:

Yeah.

Doug:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you mentioned like something that, like the movie Moonrise Kingdom, does make me happy at the end, because of like Sam is a foster kid and one of the first things you learn is when he goes missing, die hard and the whole creature out to reach out to social services, essentially, and they connect them with the parents and the parents say the parents say, oh well, we're not taking him back.

Doug:

The foster parents do Like he's a troubled kid, you know, wish you best of luck, but he's, he's your problem now, I know. And when he's like essentially like the climax of the movie is when they're climbing onto the bell tower of the church and the storm is at its peak and the just before the lightning strikes the bell tower, sam accepts the policeman, diehards, like in vitate, like I will be your foster parent, and it's like all the characters have an interaction here from social services, to Bill Murray and his wife, and all the cats, all the cacky scouts, everyone is involved in this culmination, which is just like awesome, like it's just all this noise happening at once.

Doug:

And then it results in the one question like what do you say? Pal, yeah. And you know, I think it's like you know I'll say pal, yeah. And there's the moment where it's close in on Sam's face is he looks at Susie and she nods and he makes like that Kind of like tight lipped, yes, I will do it. And he reaches out and grabs his hand. Yeah, it's so great, because then really the next thing that you see of them, of the kids, is Sam is in the house painting, in Susie's house painting, yeah, and you just see from the outsides because it's like the way that it's shot is. You're looking in at the back of his canvas, yeah, like, and it's obscuring him. We see on the outsides of what you can see around the canvas is the police uniform, like a little junior version of Bruce Willis's outfit, which is like the island police, island, police, that's right.

Doug:

Yeah, and you really get the full effect of it when it's dinner time and everyone scatters and they Sam and Susie say goodbye, and he jumps out the window and you get that full shot of him in his uniform and it's like fulfillment, you know, and it's exactly. It's just delightful, like it's a nice way to like make you feel good at the end of the movie, like you see everything tied up and everyone's happy. Yeah, and it's, it's what you hope would happen, but they, they make you like not think it's going to happen so many times throughout the movie. So it really pays off well and he's just freaking like adorable in his little mini police outfit, oh yeah, and gets in the car with his foster dad and heads away. Just so good.

Travis:

One of the saddest things because you said about how the old foster dad is saying like oh, he won't be welcome back, and it's so sad, like later when he's talking to Susie and he has no idea that this conversation is taking place. Like, oh, like I feel like we're finally going to be a family and stuff like that and that things are going well.

Doug:

That's right, yeah, and yeah. And he doesn't find out until later because Scout Master gives him the note, essentially, and some when they, when they do find him, yeah. One another thing I learned on the rewatch is that in the storm, the title inlet where they camped out that night is washed away. They show you like the new map and it's completely gone. Yeah, and I thought that was like that didn't need to happen. But the fact that it did is that much cooler, because now it's truly just this like moment that is only memory. Yeah, even geographically you can't go back to it. Yeah, so cool, yeah.

Travis:

Yeah, exactly it. Just it makes it so much more special for them, you know.

Doug:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There were also a few moments like the, just the idea of, like there's an impending storm, right, and it just the rain picks up and the wind picks up slowly, like throughout. The movie reminded me of Shutter Island, yeah, which is another one of my favorite movies, yeah, where, and of course in that movie, the storm is not real, right, it's like the, it's the, the mentally ill brain, yeah, and making all of this stuff up in Leonardo DiCaprio's mind. But the way that the storm works in Moonrise Kingdom to be just like also the storm of all the relationships happening like at the same time, and the way that it all crescendos with the lightning strike on the bell tower, it's just like perfect.

Doug:

Like a storm, like may not, like. There could have been a version of the story where the storm was real. Right, it's just in the same way. Like it's just it's turmoil, it's not a real storm. Yeah, it was so good. Another effect was really funny. Last night it was super windy here, so we're looking outside the window and all the trees are blowing and like pine needles are hitting the window and stuff. It was very immersive, so you got a free 40X version. Yeah, that's right. It was really cool, nice yeah.

Travis:

Man, man, I love that movie so much I think it would be in my top 10 all time, for sure. I just don't know where in the top 10. But yeah, because it is, it is probably my favorite. Wes Anderson, because it is the one I go back to more, because it is that comfort.

Doug:

I think it has a shorter runtime than the others. To like it's a little more of a like a condensed story. Yeah, it's just like a little bit of a fantastical you know, like, if you just need, like a 90-minute hit, yeah, this is it. Yeah, yeah, it's perfect for that. Yeah, thank you for showing me that movie. Yeah, it's so good.

Travis:

No problem, I love that one so much. Yeah, that one's. It's just too good. I'm trying to think if there's anything else I want to say on that one. We cover most of that.

Doug:

Good.

Travis:

Yeah.

Doug:

Yeah, is there anything I wonder like I'm just very quickly scanning like the wiki page, yeah, about it. Oh yeah, one thing I wanted to mention is like one Okay, so that scene on the beach, yeah, where there's like two kids essentially getting intimate, mm, hmm, and I remember watching that for the first time. I remember being like how did they do this? Yeah, well, because that could easily so dangerous to do. The point they're trying, the point that the director is trying to make, is very pure. Right, it's not. It's yeah, there's nothing disgusting about this, but done any differently than how they did it, the movie is a huge problem.

Travis:

Yes, yeah, yeah, big time, yeah, and it's. It's crazy because it's like I know, like how they did it, like technically, like I know that there was, it was literally just like him, the camera, and I think their parents or something like that, and everyone was very like, if you're uncomfortable like this, that you know, say something and they filmed at last.

Travis:

It was the last thing they did, yeah, so that way they'd be more comfortable with each other too, and they've made sure that they were okay with it, that their parents were okay with that, all that stuff, and then just minimize the amount of people to the bare minimum. Like that were there. So, yeah, I think that's good, but even with that, it could still turned out bad. So, right, I think that does just go to show the power of Wes Anderson and his visual storytelling. Like it's I don't know, it's so weird because it easily could have been like ruined his career.

Doug:

Yeah, it easily could have been not allowed to be shown anywhere you know that type of thing and all it would have taken was just one line.

Doug:

That's different, or the way like, or even the events leading up to it, what happens after, the way adults react to it, like all of these. It's not just that moment, it's just how it's like referred to and presented and all that stuff, and it really isn't like. There's that moment like the next morning they wake up and the tent is ripped off, but like Bill Murray rips the tent off of them.

Doug:

Very, very funny Actually like he hears the like boat approaching in the morning. Sam does and he grabs his glasses and puts them on, opens the tent, sees everyone out there, all the khaki scouts, edward Norton, bruce Willis, bill Murray, like Susie's parents are there, like everyone is there, and he scrambles back into the tent and zips it shut and Bill Murray just runs up and pulls the tent off the ground.

Travis:

And then just looks at them and just drops it and defeat and walks away.

Doug:

Yeah, just exactly. Yeah, just a sad sack. Like, yeah, I'm angry, but I have no skills to deal with this moment. Yeah, I don't have what it takes.

Doug:

Yeah, but like, even that, like discovering them could have been a problem, you know like the way that it was presented Like it was just done perfectly and also the movie doesn't work without this moment. No, yeah, because that's the indulgent childhood part of it. It's like this carry the curiosity about like oh, what is this feeling, you know? And it just is so, so good. But I remember watching it for the first time, when we watched it together a few years ago, and being like oh no, yeah, well, it's going to happen here, and I was a little nervous because I was just so sent. It's such a sensitive subject matter. But now, watching it again, knowing that how well it's done, I was able to just like experience it and just like not worry, and that was better, yeah.

Travis:

Yeah, yeah, totally agree with you, because that's it and it is pivotal. And there's so many like so many times where they put a scene like that, like with adults, and it's just unnecessary. It doesn't like make sense. I'm not saying that every sex scene in a movie is unnecessary, but there are there definitely are some that are like this. This furthers the plot. How, yeah, is it like any James Bond?

Doug:

movie.

Travis:

Yeah, yeah, exactly yeah, yeah, which is?

Doug:

which is great. Like, it's such a trope, like in the first Austin Powers movie, oh, yeah, and that in James Bond would have led to a sex scene with Elizabeth Hurley, yeah, and instead it's like oh, you're too drunk. Yeah, this is a bad idea. Yeah, and it's Austin Powers having a moment of reason going no, this is why would we do that? Yeah, yeah, I hate it when it's just there just to like, oh, look at these beautiful people. Yeah, not, this beautiful thing that's happening in their relationship. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so good, I think that's the last of things I had to like, think about, to say like for Boon Rice Kingdom.

Travis:

I think so too.

Doug:

Everything is done. Well, there's no, there's no useless scenes, like there's nothing that is filler. And even the moments like you mentioned, like the fast dialogue that is like Wes Anderson's thing, when there it's a VO of their like letters back and forth to each other, yeah, like increasingly gets faster and cuts off earlier, like in the middle of their talking, like you don't need to it. The entirety of the note doesn't matter what it's just like, and it eventually even ends in like the letters being passed or where love, sam and when from Susie. Yeah, like it's just even the content of the letters. Yeah.

Travis:

You don't even hear the wind. And where? Yeah?

Doug:

That's right. Yeah, yeah, it's so good yeah.

Travis:

I think I'm tapped on that movie too. But if anything pops back up for the rest of the conversation, then but next one's the last one that you saw, I'm pretty sure. Oh wait, no, no, but Grand Budapest Hotels next. Yes, that's another. I think this was maybe the first one I saw. I saw it on a computer at work, like it was meant to be seen on my night shift, from some like free movies website.

Doug:

Yes, the ideal viewing experience.

Travis:

Yeah. But immediately it was like, oh, okay, now I see what the big deal with this guy is, because I had seen advertising for Moonrise Kingdom. But okay, this isn't fair to the movie. But it was on like it was back when Hulu would play the same commercial for every single commercial break. So I by the time it like I was just watching through the office, I think, and I was like, oh my God, I do not want to see this movie because I keep seeing the commercial every single time.

Doug:

But just completely inundated like, okay, no, now, out of spite, I won't watch it.

Travis:

Yeah, and then when I eventually I did watch Moonrise Kingdom, that's when I was like I was like, okay, this is amazing, I love it. But yeah, grand Budapest is so good. I also did a full episode on that one. But yeah, I love the way it ends, even though it is sad, like.

Doug:

Remind me how it ends. You alluded to it earlier, but I don't remember how it is.

Travis:

So it's Jude Law is playing the, an author, and he's getting the story from the old man version of the Lobby Boy I wish I could remember the character's name right now, but zero, zero, yep, zero, mustafa, yep. And so he's getting the story from him and do you could tell? It's in some like made up fictional Eastern European country, but it's during World War Two, ramping up, basically, and eventually the country gets taken over by like death squads and stuff like that and they're on the train and they get stopped and they don't have the right identification and Ray Fine stands up to him, the death squad guy, and ends up getting killed. Yeah, yes, that's right, I remember you don't actually see it happen. But that's another like great love story as well, because this is between two young, like older teenager, young adult. It's him and Sir Sir Ronan plays the girl and she's amazing, like she's done nothing but good stuff since then. So, and she has like a big birthmark on her face that's shaped like Italy, I believe.

Doug:

That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Travis:

And she's like is living with this baker, but I don't know if there's any like relation or if she's just there, you know. But and then they end up getting married and everything. But there's like a whole Heist plot and stuff like that. And the old lady played by Till and Swinton, Till the Swinton, leaves a Painting for him and what's his character's name? Why can't I tell him?

Doug:

Yeah, the wiki up, Gustav yeah.

Travis:

Gustav Gustav H. Yeah, man, yeah, yeah. Like I said, my brain's like blank today. Usually I could like bring this up out of nowhere, but your brain made Tony Ravioli earlier. Yes exactly.

Doug:

This may be a symptom of the medicine, but it's still just fine to me. Yeah, it's Ralph Ralph. Fine to me, yes.

Travis:

So, yeah, I guess Gustav H Gets left this painting that's like really valuable, but they're going to try not to Let them have it and while they go through the will and everything, and her kids are trying to Weasel their way to all the money, adrian Brody plays the son and yeah, there's a lot of murder and stuff like that.

Doug:

There's also a good, if I remember correctly, like an escape through the sewer. Yes, which is always like a good thing in a movie.

Travis:

Oh yeah, that prison escape is great, and that's also. Harvey Keitel is the Like the big. How do I remember his character's name, pinky Tuscadero? Oh my God, great, I think that's it. Or is that someone from Greece? Or the last name? I know it's Pinky.

Doug:

Pinky. Let's see, this just says Pinky.

Travis:

Okay, hold on, but that's they do say the last name, but because he's writing a letter to no, not writing a letter. When Zero comes to visit him in prison and he says that he Got in a fight with like the biggest, toughest guy there, then they actually became friends and so then they plan this big escape together.

Doug:

Got it? Yeah, it's a yeah. Even IMDB doesn't say Just Pinky. Yeah, All right, whatever dude, but yeah.

Travis:

Another great cast. I got Jeff Goldblum in there. That's right. He pops up in a few. I think he was in. He was in life aquatic because he's like a competitor, which is great. I'm pretty sure it's left on an island with a bunch of pirates at some point. I got it and then they go.

Doug:

I don't remember that that's such like an indulgent thing to like have Jeff Goldblum do is give a room down an island with a bunch of pirates, yeah.

Travis:

Oh man, yeah, and Willem Dafoe being crazy, always good, oh dude.

Doug:

He's so sick. Yeah, just a complete maniac behind those eyes. Yeah.

Travis:

Yeah. Do you have any other thoughts on that one or?

Doug:

No, not particularly. Yeah, that's another one reminding me, like, how much I need to see them again, because all that I really remember about most of these movies is that I enjoyed them, and when I think about them, I just think about colors. Yes, like they're, they're. They're all so colorful and vibrant. Even Bottle Rocket is saturated like reds and blues and all of that stuff, like, I think of each one as colors.

Travis:

Yeah, oh uh. Grand Budapest is pink and purple.

Doug:

Exactly, yeah, yeah, moonrise Kingdom is like green and yellow Yep, green and yellow. Life Aquatic is blue and red, yeah, and I just think and obviously that's super intentional, yeah, but I think of them by those colors and I just remember them like pretty much all being joyful, yeah, and and just fun to watch. So I do need to see them again to remember like to uh, yes, I remember this confused me the first time I watched it, you know, or something. And now, knowing more stuff, yeah, be able to see them again, yeah, yep.

Travis:

All right, so on that note, let's move on to. This is the last one you've seen and this is Isla Dogs.

Doug:

Yeah, yes, yeah, I love dogs. Yep, yeah, oh, it was so good. I loved this one so much because the main, like human character, the kid, hmm, reminded me so much of my youngest brother, just this, like little, he's also like the most Asian looking of us, so it definitely worked in that way too. Yeah, and I, you know, uh, it was just so good. Like watching, I loved and I like we're we're dog people too. So, yeah, just this, this, this movie was just so, so cool to watch. Yep, yeah.

Travis:

I love the. I love the stop motion animation because I love how it's not 100% fluid, but neither is like Wes Anderson's live action stuff either, if you think about it. So it's like it is very abrupt and that's very intentional because it's supposed to be reminiscent of those like 60s uh TV Christmas specials like Rudolph and stuff like that.

Doug:

But it tackles like a heavier theme, like, if I remember right, like it was like dogs or exile, because there's like this virus that they're like spreading to people, that may or may not be actually happening. Yeah, yeah, okay.

Travis:

But then it's like a conspiracy, because the um, I don't remember if it was the emperor or just like the mayor of Tokyo, I forget if it was Japan wide or just the city, but, um, either way, whoever's in charge is a cat person, and that's what they're really boiled down to.

Doug:

That's right. Yes, uh, the city's authoritarian mayor, kenji Kobayashi. Right yeah, fies and official decree banishing all dogs to trash islands. Yep, yep.

Travis:

It's and it's really funny. I think one of my favorite parts, uh, is when they're about to fight with these other this other pack of dogs over a bag of trash, and one of them says like wait, well, shouldn't we see what we're fighting over? It might not even be worth it. And then they open it up and it's real quick, like listing like the most uh stereotypical cartoon trash items like half a fish, a tin can, uh stuff, and then like the list gets like interrupted, like towards the end.

Travis:

It's worth it. And then they just start fighting in this like ball of cotton with limbs sticking out.

Doug:

That. That, to me, is like just as funny as like any moment in super bad oh yeah, or stepbrothers or something like that. It's a completely different type of comedy, but it's because it's just pure what is funny, it's not a joke. You know, it's just a funny, super funny thing.

Travis:

Yeah, and like the, when they meet these wise dogs, and one of them is called the Oracle. And the reason she's so wise is just cause she can understand the TV, the humans on TV.

Doug:

I didn't really I forgot about that. Like there's not really like magic in the in this movie. Yeah, it's just limited canine understanding of the world.

Travis:

Yeah.

Doug:

Yeah, that's so cool. Yeah, I forgot that. It is essentially like an evil cats controlling the government.

Travis:

Yeah, I think it's also the plot of cats and dogs from the early 2000s.

Doug:

It's probably also a plot line in some other animated pet movies. Oh yeah, is Paw Patrol just a bunch of cats working?

Travis:

outside the law. Yeah, the cats are the mafia and Paw Patrol organized crime. It's like the wire. But cats and dogs, yeah.

Doug:

Let's reddit actually voiced a cat.

Travis:

This is the last roll.

Doug:

Where's my money? Bitch yeah.

Travis:

But yeah, I love dogs, I think is the better, even though I've seen Fantastic, but Mr Fox more and I think more people like that one more I think I'll. A dog is a little better in my opinion. It's a better movie.

Doug:

I had a pretty unique aesthetic to like being like, sort of like not North American or I don't know, like there's just something about it being like sort of out of place to like an American audience.

Travis:

It's something I realized when I was watching Fantastic Mr Fox. That they also do with this is that all the humans are have the native language and accents of the region and the animals are just whatever American. Yeah, Chris Pratt, because in Fantastic Mr Fox it's taken place in England and so everyone has the British accent when they're human, but all the animals are just George Clooney and Bill Murray, and that's funny.

Doug:

I didn't realize. Yeah, I'll have to watch Fantastic Mr Fox with a blindfold on, so don't get creeped out. The accents thing will still play, yep.

Travis:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah it's, it's good, it's a good one. I think that was the first of his that I got to see in the theater. So, oh, that's cool. Also holds a special place in my heart. But it's only been that in asteroid city that I've seen the theater, because French dispatch came out during COVID, which that's the first. That one you haven't seen. That one's really good.

Travis:

That's three separate stories that are it's basically like a newspaper in an American run newspaper in France is closing down and it's just like three stories that got told over the years, basically, and so it's like three different segments, all all star cast, as usual. And then same goes for asteroid city. That one. The plot is it's a bunch of kids out in the middle of this desert town for a science fair because there's an asteroid crater site from, like you know, thousands of years ago, and so they're doing some science fair there, they're getting some grants from the military and while they're there and alien comes and takes the asteroid and leaves, and then now they're all quarantined there While the government figures out what's going on. Oh my God.

Doug:

I'm so excited to watch this. Yeah, that one.

Travis:

I highly recommend. I think it's. It's right up there with Moonrise and Grand Budapest and stuff Awesome.

Doug:

Yeah, I loved it, that's great, I'll probably watch it this weekend.

Travis:

And there's a, there's a kid. Half of the plot is kid centric, so it's not like fully Moonrise Kingdom, but it's that I'd say they're more of the subplot, like the adults were the subplot and Moonrise the kids are the subplot and yeah, but it's good, that's cool yeah.

Doug:

I like how the subplots all interop in these movies too, like they happen, so they like crossover all the time. You know, like I love that, I love that, I love when, when someone can tell a story that, because it's that's a formulaic thing, right, you have plot and you have subplot. There's one like the office did that well, like whatever was happening, everyone was involved in it. Even though it was two things happening, it all converged in the office or whatever was going on, or at this party or whatever. There's another show, brooklyn Nine-Nine, which is Andy Sandberg the cop. Yeah, somehow a show about like lovable cops existed and in the century.

Doug:

Yeah.

Travis:

And one thing that I didn't like about it.

Doug:

Yeah, new York. Yeah, nypd, the lovable, just just just great guys, they. One thing I don't like about that show and this is where I became aware of this was that there's plot and subplot, just like every, every other sitcom, but it's, it's. You get the impression this wasn't even filmed all within the same month. You know, like there's nothing happens together. They never collide, yeah and I. That's one thing that I love about West Anderson movies is just the complexity of things that like run into each other. Yeah, yeah, it's really really good, like like even in Moonrise Kingdom it's there's a moment where they go oh, the missing girl is with Sam. You know, like that's too separate Things that are happening. Yeah, that that bring to totally uninvolved parties together.

Travis:

Yep.

Doug:

Yeah, yeah.

Travis:

I love that. And and then West Anderson, you'll get those shots where it's like, oh, like, there's 12 people in the scene and half of them are Oscar winners and the other half have been nominated. Yeah, and they're, you know, and they're not known comedians, but they're, they have the comedic timing and they're pulling it off, you know, and not everyone can do that.

Doug:

Yeah, yeah, we can't. We can't all be Will Ferrell. No, can't all be. Who's the funniest person in the world? Gary Busey.

Travis:

Well, I think this point's been made on like so you take like 21 Jump Street, which is a great comedy, and Channing Tatum and not a comedian is hilarious, that's right and you know stuff like that. But then, like you look at like the Baywatch movie and you take the two handsome guys that happen to be funny with the funny people but put them together and it just doesn't work.

Doug:

Yeah, there's speaking of Channing Tatum being funny. I recently watched this is the end again. Oh yeah, where he ends up being. I always forget the actor's name, but Kenny Powers.

Travis:

Oh, danny McBride, Danny McBride is just Danny McBride.

Doug:

It's two and 11 in this movie, oh yeah. And in the apocalypse he is like essentially like a Mad Max Road Warrior and he like has this like pet dog human that he's like whipping and like in like a bunch of like leather and straps and stuff and confronts Jay and and and what is his Seth? Yeah, seth Rogen confronts him at the end and the dog, the, the guy on all fours and leather, like pulls off its mask and he's Channing Tatum and just in like a psychosexual love relationship with Danny McBride. Like he's really funny and he's also like willing to be like the butt of the joke for the sake of the joke, and that's not something we're used to seeing with like pretty boys. And another place that happened is in the Barbie movie which we saw this year. Yeah, dude, what's his goddamn name? Ryan Gosling.

Travis:

Oh, ryan Gosling, he's, he's great.

Doug:

So funny.

Travis:

But he's, he's been like a slow burn comedy guy for a bit. I think that's like the first time I noticed like that. He was like really good in a comedy was crazy stupid. Love with Steve Corral, that was OK movie. You know it's pretty good, Just cut and you know cut and paste romcom, but with good people in it. And then, but the nice guys with Russell Crowe where they're like hops in the 70s or detectives in the 70s, oh man.

Doug:

I've been told to watch this movie by someone else too. I have to watch it.

Travis:

That's one I I finally. It's like you know what. I remember seeing the trailer but I never got around to seeing it and then it was streaming somewhere and I finally watched it and and he's great in that, but yeah, killed it in the Barbie movie.

Doug:

It sure did. I really loved that movie. It wasn't anticipating that I would like it, but I loved it. Yeah, oh yeah, it was. It was so good, barbie not just for girls anymore.

Travis:

No For all the literally me guys out there. Yeah, posting the gifts from Drive yeah.

Doug:

Backpacks clinking, yeah, yeah.

Travis:

Yeah, the driving gloves on. I think it's yeah, oh man, I don't remember who it was, but I definitely saw someone in IRL put this on wanted to leave.

Doug:

You're not safe wherever you are anymore.

Travis:

That's why I got out of the military. My coworker came in and put on driving gloves. I'm out.

Doug:

I can put up with all this other stuff, but this is the final straw. Yeah, all right.

Travis:

Well, I think we can wrap up the podcast here. I think we covered Wes Anderson Pretty good. Looking forward to oh wait, no one more thing. Just recently on Netflix he released four shorts based on rolled doll properties and those were really good. No way, yes. And the first one is the fantastic or wonderful world of Henry sugar. That's the longer of the four, that's like 45 minutes. Benedict Cumberbatch and that one is done. The stylistic choices in that are really interesting because he basically like reading the book, like they're like reading the book basically and like acting it out, like the. But they'll say like he said, you know, and then like turn to the camera.

Travis:

That's cool. Yeah, it's really weird, but but really well done.

Doug:

And these are all, these are four rolled, all stories I've never heard of. Yeah, like I think of, like the BFG.

Travis:

Yeah, I think from what I read they were like later on, like more older, older kids, young adult or something shorts, when he was trying to get away from just kids stories or something like that. But those were good, that makes sense. So that's the latest thing he's done and looking forward to whatever he does next.

Doug:

Yeah, for sure I'll watch these two.

Travis:

Definitely check those out those are good, but yeah, that's Wes Anderson. Thank you, doug, for joining me on this.

Doug:

You're welcome. Thank you for indulging all of the times where I broke for many semblance of structure.

Travis:

Hey, that's what I'm for.

Doug:

Cool. Yeah, thank you for having me on. This was a blast.

Travis:

All right, yeah. So thank you guys for listening and go ahead and check out the show on Instagram. At movies they're pretty good with no punctuation in it, and see you guys next week. Thanks,

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